LOOKBOOK PHOTOGRAPHY Willow Williams
Texas-born designer Myah Hasbany is part of a new wave of fashion talent redefining form, identity, and body politics through experimental knitwear. A recent graduate of Central Saint Martins, Hasbany made a powerful statement with their final collection, which imagined the aftermath of a UFO crash in rural Texas. Surreal and sculptural, the collection featured eerie identical twins, plush knitted creatures, and a show-closing look using helium balloons to create inflated, feather-adorned tendrils. The collection earned them the prestigious L’Oréal Professionnel Young Talent Award and cemented their status as one to watch.
Hasbany’s practice is rooted in pushing boundaries, both technically and conceptually. Their designs often explore gender, body dysmorphia, and alternative forms of femininity, communicated through exaggerated proportions and tactile materials.
That vision caught the attention of Erykah Badu when Hasbany was just 17. Having crossed paths while Hasbany was still in high school – where Badu was a fellow alum – the music legend was impressed by Hasbany’s experimental approach to silhouette and style, evolving into a long-term collaboration. In March, the pair worked together on a look for the Billboard Women in Music Awards, where Badu received the Icon Award: a hemp bodysuit with a dramatically oversized derriere, crafted from crocheted body parts.
With a practice grounded in craft and conceptual storytelling, Hasbany continues to challenge expectations – shaping not just garments, but the conversations surrounding them. Below, Hasbany shares how a UFO crash, Texan campery and collaborating with Erykah Badu inspired their latest collection.
You’re originally from Texas – what inspirations do you take from your hometown, if any?
There’s a certain campiness that only exists in Texas. I look back on things like the State Fair of Texas or homecoming mums and realise how influential they actually were on me. Even the phrase “everything’s bigger in Texas” has crept its way into my design mentality. It’s funny because, despite being such a conservative state, so many things are over the top and flamboyant. That mood was something I tried to capture a bit in the collection, mostly the attitude – almost this arrogant conviction that this is totally normal and proper, despite being utterly strange and totally camp.
Congratulations on your L’Oréal Professionnel Young Talent Award win CSM BA Fashion final showcase. What was this experience like, and do you have plans for your winnings?
It was incredibly amazing, super shocking and extremely overwhelming. It’s funny because I was so worried about actually finishing everything, I really hadn’t thought about it being good or people liking it. It’s also hard because I had been looking at most of these pieces for a year straight, working from my bedroom, so I thought of them more as roommates rather than a fabulous creation. It’s really great that people have connected to it and responded so well. I also worried that maybe people wouldn’t get it or accept it, which is also the feeling that the collection was based on, and my experience growing up. It’s really special that people do get it; I wasn’t expecting that at all.
I resented being from Texas for a long time because I thought I was missing out on having access to the fashion world. In reality though, I think the lack of access was such a great thing. It means that you don’t grow up with rules, or rigid fashion influences swaying you one way or the other. It gives you the space to make your own rules and taste.
You’ve previously collaborated with fashion icon Erykah Badu after connecting as fellow alumni of the same high school. In what ways do you think you share the same style sensibilities?
I don’t want to speak too much on Erykah’s behalf, but there is something about being Texan that I think informs both of our tastes. I resented being from Texas for a long time because I thought I was missing out on having access to the fashion world. In reality though, I think the lack of access was such a great thing. It means that you don’t grow up with rules, or rigid fashion influences swaying you one way or the other. It gives you the space to make your own rules and taste. I think in that way we’re similar.
She’s also the only person I’ve ever worked with who’s never said “… well that’s too much,” which is also an incredible thing as a young person who’s starting out; to have someone who’s down for all your crazy ideas. She doesn’t limit her experimentation, and I’ve tried to keep the same mentality. She’s definitely influenced me in that way.
What’s one piece of advice you would give to other emerging designers getting started in the fashion industry right now?
I think it’s a really good idea to find a niche. Fashion is such a diverse industry in terms of all the hyper-specific jobs and skills you can have. It’s great if you can find one to get really obsessed with because it sets you apart. Even in terms of your design style, find a niche.
Who or what has inspired your most recent collection?
My collection was inspired by a folk legend of a UFO crash in a small town in Texas. Apparently, the alien died in the crash, so the town decided the best thing to do would be to perform a Christian burial and pretend it never happened. I thought this was a great allegory for the way anyone who is different from the status quo is treated in the American South. They are buried, or used as a scapegoat. I wanted to challenge this narrative by imagining that the consequence of covering up this crash would be that the residents are doomed to become the thing they fear. The looks are designed to form a slow transition of the townspeople’s descent into otherworldly creatures.
There were many times that I felt like an alien who had crash-landed in the South. I was trying to tap into the feeling I had while moving through the world in Texas, while being viewed as something utterly strange and sometimes very unwelcome. I wanted to take ownership of this experience and channel it into something beautiful and hopeful.
The collection was also a way to put a positive spin on my own feelings of growing up in Texas. For lack of a better term, there were many times that I felt like an alien who had crash-landed in the South. I was trying to tap into the feeling I had while moving through the world in Texas, while being viewed as something utterly strange and sometimes very unwelcome. I wanted to take ownership of this experience and channel it into something beautiful and hopeful.
How do you like to present your work?
I love to have a combination of editorial photographs and progress photos. Obviously, everyone loves a fashion fantasy image, but it can be really refreshing to see the reality of making something so complicated sometimes. It’s also great for me, because I think it helps people appreciate the craft a bit more. In the future, I would love to have some type of in-person format.
How would you describe your aesthetic in your own words?
After finishing this collection, I think my aesthetic has become the clearest it’s ever been. For me, it’s a balance that’s representative of my own outlook on the world. It’s the tension between vulnerability and strength that’s formed from painful memories. Bianca Blanari wrote a really beautiful review of my collection that summed it up perfectly: “Myah’s silhouettes swell like memory, distorted, fantastical, protective. To me, they speak of displacement, of identity stretched and reshaped, of softness as resistance. There is humour. There is sorrow. There is silence. And above all, there is courage.”
Upon reflection, I think my work is also an exploration of my feelings about my body, especially processing gender dysphoria. I get a bit annoyed when people say, “Oh well, you just make big stuff.” To me, it’s a practice of taking up space. People have torn me down about how much space my body takes up in the world, so now I’m able to take ownership of exactly how much space I take up. I can explore how I see my form away from myself, and I can create another “body” of sorts. In that world, being too big or too much is never a problem.
People have torn me down about how much space my body takes up in the world, so now I’m able to take ownership of exactly how much space I take up. I can explore how I see my form away from myself, and I can create another “body” of sorts. In that world, being too big or too much is never a problem.
What song/album/artist/podcast are you blasting on repeat while you’re working in your studio/space?
I became really obsessed with space-age jazz while making the collection. Specifically, Piero Piccioni’s album Piccioni in Orbit was a really constant one. There’s something about the mood from that time, it’s a very naive hopefulness for the future that I found a lot of inspiration in. My friend Clyde Crooks also made an amazing piece of music based on my creatures dancing a waltz that I listened to a lot.
What’s your weirdest or wildest fashion obsession right now?
There’s this subculture of men on Pinterest who love mohair sweaters. I’m not totally sure of the origins, whether it’s a fetish thing, or they just love to make them and wear them. Regardless, they have fabulous collections and great taste in mohair.
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